Acne & Acne Scar Treatments

While acne itself is a frustrating condition, it can leave a footprint long after it’s gone in the form of acne scars. While these shallow pits can continue to be an eyesore, “Lucie Me Medical Spa” offers a variety of acne scar treatment options to help patients find relief. From IPL to skincare and chemical peels we can help find the perfect noninvasive treatment for you.

Acne scar treatment options

we understand that patients suffering from acne scars are looking for immediate treatment. For this reason, we have a comprehensive array of treatments to cater to all skin types and colors. Your acne scar treatment begins with a thorough consultation so our practitioners can determine which treatments will best suit your needs. They may have you undergo a single treatment or a combination of treatments to provide the best result. The acne scar treatment plan recommended will be dependent on several factors, including the type of acne scars you have, whether they are primarily on the surface or extend into the deeper layers of the skin, as well as your skin color and overall skin tone. We offer complimentary consultation with no obligation.

How acne scars occur

Acne occurs when skin pores become filled with oil, dead skin cells and bacteria. The pores become inflamed and eventually burst. If the pore wall bursts deeper in the skin, the infected debris leaks into the deep tissues, which creates larger lesions.

Scarring occurs as the body creates collagen to repair the damage. Depending on skin type and other factors, the scarring can be relatively shallow and easy to correct. Where ruptures occur deep in the pore, scarring is more severe. The healing process creates significant changes in the texture and smoothness of the skin forming deep depressions or giving the skin a rolling wave-like appearance.

There are two categories of scarring; one type adds tissue, the other type forms around lost tissue.

Hypertrophic scarring is the result of excessive collagen production during healing. Raised bumps or ridges around scars are the result of this over production of healing fiber. Atrophic scarring occurs as tissue is lost in healing.

Common forms of atrophic scarring are ‘ice pick’ and ‘boxcar’ scars. Ice pick scarring creates tiny holes in the skin, while boxcar scars are larger with vertical sides comparable to chicken pox scars.

Your acne scar treatment plan will be customized to address your unique skin landscape. Understand that the deeper more extensive scars will take several treatments and a healthy dose of patience while the skin heals. Superficial scarring will require patience as well. Treatments such as a chemical peel or a laser resurfacing both remove the damaged tissue, allowing the body to replace it with healthy smooth tissue.

Preventing acne scars

For patients who currently have acne, the best treatment for acne scars is preventing them before they occur. Below are two factors that make acne worse and may contribute to scarring once the acne is gone.

· Sun exposure. For both acne and acne scars, direct sunlight can prolong the condition and often make it worse. It is wise to avoid the sun during its peak hours, especially between 10am and 2pm. Sunscreen, hats and other forms of protection are recommended.

·  Picking and squeezing. While it’s certainly tempting to pop that whitehead, it actually causes further disturbance to the skin. This results in inflammation and collagen loss, which prevents the skin from healing as it should. Additionally, popping a pimple causes the spread of bacteria deeper into the skin.

Intense Pulsed Light

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treat­ments are becom­ing widely rec­og­nized as an effec­tive solu­tion for those suf­fer­ing from mild to mod­er­ate inflam­ma­tory acne. Besides clear­ing up pus­tules and active inflam­ma­tion, IPL has the added ben­e­fit of improv­ing the appear­ance of facial scar­ring, which is an unfor­tu­nate but com­mon out­come of chronic acne. Read on to dis­cover whether Intense Pulsed Light treat­ments may be right for you.

Dur­ing IPL treat­ments, short pulses of intense light are emit­ted from an appli­ca­tor onto your skin. To treat acne, spe­cific wave­lengths of light tar­get abac­te­ria in the skin, as well as inflamed seba­ceous glands that con­tribute to break­outs. IPL energy at var­i­ous wave­lengths is also used to selec­tively destroy pig­ment cells, blood-filled cap­il­lary veins, or hair, depend­ing on the intended nature of your treatment.

When your skin absorbs the light energy, it heats up and you will expe­ri­ence a brief, pin­prick sen­sa­tion. A layer of chilled gel applied before treat­ment helps to ease the dis­com­fort, and as each indi­vid­ual pulse of light can treat a gen­er­ous area of skin, IPL treat­ments are gen­er­ally quite short. A typ­i­cal ses­sion ranges from 20 to 30 min­utes, and most patients require between four and six ses­sions to achieve the desired results.

The Ben­e­fits of IPL for Acne Scars

Acne scar­ring can affect both the color and tex­ture of the skin. Scars may appear as small dents in the skin’s sur­face or as raised scar tis­sue. In either case, scar­ring often cre­ates uneven pig­men­ta­tion in the form of red­ness or dark spots. Because Intense Pulsed Light can tar­get pig­ment cells specif­i­cally, IPL treat­ments are effec­tive for evening out dis­col­oration, which dra­mat­i­cally reduces the vis­i­bil­ity of acne scars and gives the appear­ance of a more uni­form skin sur­face. IPLdoes not smooth out raised scars or decrease the depth of indented scars.

Intense Pulsed Light treat­ments are a non-invasive, non-abrasive option for any­one who wishes to reduce the vis­i­bil­ity of acne scars. The min­i­mal dis­com­fort involved in the pro­ce­dure means that no anes­the­sia is required beyond a mild cool­ing gel. Side effects are rare, with red­ness in the treated area typ­i­cally short-lived and a nor­mal appear­ance restored within hours of the treatment.

Whether you suf­fer from active inflam­ma­tory acne or only lin­ger­ing scars, IPL treat­ment is a safe, non-surgical method for sig­nif­i­cantly improv­ing the con­di­tion of your skin. If acne break­outs and scars are trou­bling you, treat­ment with Intense Pulsed Light could allow you to face the world with full con­fi­dence again.